The University of Florida has a long and productive history in cancer research and cancer care of patients. We are now seeking to competitively renew our Cancer Biology Training Grant, currently in its 24th consecutive year of funding. The overall goal of the Cancer Biology Training Program remains unchanged and is to prepare our post- and predoctoral trainees for a successful cancer research career by providing expert and comprehensive mentoring in the laboratory. Some significant changes have been made. These include the appointment of a new Director for the Training Grant program, Stratford May, M.D., Ph.D., who was recruited in October 1999 and appointed the first full-time Director of the University of Florida Shands Cancer Center (UFSCC) and the Chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology. Dr. May was selected by the former Principal Investigator, Richard Lottenberg, M.D., to serve as the Director of the Cancer Biology Training Program because of Dr. May's dual administrative roles, and his demonstrated career in cancer research, including translational research would provide a more clear cancer research training focus. In addition, the formation and development of the UFSCC provides additional faculty who have become members of the Cancer Biology Training Grant faculty and adds significant new resources to support cancer research on campus. The Cancer Biology Training Program outlined in this competitive continuation application (i.e., years 26-30) has the faculty expertise, infrastructure, resources and cancer-focused research opportunities to continue to provide an outstanding training environment. An emphasis of this application is in the training of M.D., M.D./Ph.D. or Ph.D. postdoctoral, as well as predoctoral Ph.D. or M.D./Ph.D. candidates, who plan to pursue careers in academic oncology and cancer research that involve basic and translational studies. Our program has demonstrated excellent success in training students, most of whom remain in academic positions. In addition, we continue to actively encourage and retain diversity among our trainees.